Rise of the Marketplaces: Back-to-school shopping

The yearly “Back to School” shopping is no longer just a trip to the local drugstore to pick up school supplies. It has become a major shopping holiday — a whole event for some families — as students scramble to get everything they need for the coming school year.

Clothes, school supplies, sporting equipment and so on are all on the lists, as everyone turns into what was once a half a day trip to the mall into a multi-day prep period. And when their kids are headed off to college, there are extra items on the shopping list for the first time, like dorm room furniture, shower accessories and mini fridges.

But while the back-to-school shopping season has gotten bigger and busier, it’s also gotten a lot easier for parents and students, thanks to e-commerce and online marketplaces. Consumers can get exactly what they want, and have it delivered directly to their homes during the summer months, when time is already at a premium. Mid- to late summer can be very busy with kids’ activities, vacations, adult gatherings, summer parties and last minute road trips – online shopping opens up time for a lot of fun.

Unlike the typical brick-and-mortar retail school supply sales, online shopping enable parents to more easily spread out their school shopping purchases over time. Though NRF projects that consumer confidence will mean an all-time high for back to school and back to college spending, marketplaces allow parents the option to spread out their school shopping budget over multiple paychecks, while also discovering the best prices for the items they wish to buy. And, as a bonus for parents (but a drawback for retailers), shopping online reduces the chances for kids begging for items that aren’t on the list that they don’t really need.

This is why online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and others have become so popular for back to school shopping. Consumers can shop for clothes, shoes, sports equipment, arts and crafts supplies all in the same place from the comfort of their home. With the pricing transparency created by Marketplaces, they allow parents to easily comparison shop and get the best price. With young adults going off to college, they may be able to find good deals on coveted big-ticket items like like dorm refrigerators, televisions and laptops. Online marketplaces like eBay might help consumers find some of the more hard-to-find items.

As it angles for the student market share. Amazon has rolled a variety of school-focused programs. It has introduced School Lists – a feature where teachers can create school supply lists that can be directly shared with parents. Parents can simply add everything they need to their cart and checkout, they don’t even need to perform a search to find what they need. There’s also Prime Student, a program for college students that offers a 6-month free trial of Amazon Prime, followed by eligibility for 50 percent off Prime for four years or until the student graduates.

Depending on the marketplace and the service options that you subscribe to, it could take between a few days and a few months to make your products available. For example, you can get set up on Amazon Marketplace relatively quickly if you’re shipping from your own warehouse, but your products won’t be Prime Eligible until you prove you’re able to deliver to Prime expectations. Subscribing to Fulfillment by Amazon will take longer, because you need to ship products to an Amazon fulfillment center, but it could be well worth the effort. Either way, you have plenty of time to get moving on next year’s back to school marketplace channel strategies.

If you’d like to learn more about Amazon Marketplace and other retail marketplaces to boost your back-to-school shopping sales, SPS Commerce can help you. Please visit our website for more information, or to get a free demonstration from one of our sales professionals.

Ready to experience infinite retail power?

Learn how SPS solutions support retail and enable a more agile supply chain or contact SPS today for a consultation.